The History of Irish Soccer

Organised soccer in Ireland
can trace it's historical roots to 1878. It is widely accepted that the
history of Irish soccer began with Belfast merchant John McAlery. McAlery
was on his honeymoon in Edinburgh, Scotland on his honeymoon when he saw
his first organised football match. He was taken by the game and decided
to introduce association football to Ireland by inviting two football
teams from Scotland, Queens Park and Caledonians, to play an exhibition
game at Ulster Cricket Grounds in Ballynafeigh on the 24th October 1878.
Queens Park won the football match 3-2.

History of Organised Irish Football

John McAlery went
on to form the first known football club in Ireland when he established
Cliftonville in 1879. He placed the following advertisement in the
News Letter and the Northern Whig:

CLIFTONVILLE
ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL CLUB
(Scottish Association Rules)

GENTLEMEN DISIROUS OF BECOMING
MEMBERS of the above club will please communicate with

Cliftonville's first match was 1-2 defeat
to Quidnunces on 29th September 1879. The club's first victory was on
1st November 1879 when Cliftonville beat Knock 2-0.

On November 18th, 1880 in Queens Hotel
in Belfast, the Irish Football Association (IFA) was established. The
founding members were all from Northern Ireland, and the clubs were Alexander
(Limavady), Avoniel, Cliftonville, Distillery, Knock, Moyla Park, and
Oldpark. The first competition introduced by the IFA was the Irish Cup
and the inaugural winners were Moyla Park, who beat Cliftonville 1-0 in
the 1800-01 season. It would take a further ten years before the establishment
of an Irish football league.

The first meeting of the Irish Football
League took place in the Belfast Estate Office of the Marquess of Dufferin
and Ava on the 14th March 1890. The founding member clubs were Clarence,
Cliftonville, Distillery, Glentoran, Linfield, Milford, Oldpark, and Ulster.
The first president of the Irish Football League was M McNiece of Cliftonville.

Because of John McAlery's involvement
in the history of Irish soccer Ireland's second city, Belfast, was the
home of the sport. Every other sport in Ireland had it's headquarters
in Dublin.

First Irish Soccer International Match

Ireland played it's first
international match on 18th February 1882 (although some reports suggest
that it was 30th January) at Bloomfield Park in front of an attendance
of 2,500. England provided the opposition and Ireland lost heavily by
a scoreline of 0-13. This remains Ireland's heaviest defeat in and international
football match.

A week later Ireland played
Wales in the second Irish international match and although the match ended
in another heavy defeat, 1-7, the match was notable for one particular
reason. Sammy Johnson (Distillery) scored the first Irish goal at international
level. Ireland's first result at international level was a 1-1
home draw with Wales on 17th March 1883. William Morrow (Moyola) scored
the Irish goal. Ireland's first international victory came at the 16th
attempt when Wales were beaten 4-1 in Belfast.